Tuesday, December 10, 2013

An evolutionary adaptation is any heritable phenotypic character whose frequency of appearance in a population is the result of increased reproductive success relative to alternative versions of that heritable phenotypic character. Here are the criteria I believe are most useful when one is attempting to determine if one is dealing with an "adaptation":

Qualification 1: An evolutionary adaptation will be expressed by most of the members of a given population, in a pattern that approximates a normal distribution;

Qualification 2: An evolutionary adaptation can be correlated with underlying anatomical and physiological structures, which constitute the efficient (or proximate) cause of the evolution of the adaptation;

Qualification 3: An evolutionary adaptation can be correlated with a pre-existing evolutionary environment of adaptation (EEA), the circumstances of which can then be correlated with differential survival and reproduction; and

Qualification 4: An evolutionary adaptation can be correlated with the presence and expression of an underlying gene or gene complex, which directly or indirectly causes and influences the expression of the phenotypic trait that constitutes the adaptation.

Monday, December 9, 2013

About three million Americans have long-distance relationships, but can they work?

Contrary to the received wisdom, long distance relationships can work, according to new research published in the Journal of Communication (Jiang & Hancock, 2013).

Two factors that help keep long distance relationships alive are that these couples:

Tell each other more intimate information.

Have a more idealised view of their partner.

The study, which contradicts much standard dating advice, was inspired by the increasing numbers of people conducting long distance relationships because of the demands of education, employment or emigration.

The researchers examined 67 couples: some who were in long distance relationships, and others who were in close physical proximity to each other.

They found that the long distance couples were highly trusting and even felt more intimate with their partners, despite their physical distance.

Crystal Jiang explained:

“…our culture emphasizes being together physically and frequent face-to-face contact for close relationships, but long-distance relationships clearly stand against all these values. People don’t have to be so pessimistic about long-distance romance. The long-distance couples try harder than geographically close couples in communicating affection and intimacy, and their efforts do pay back.”

It shows that, while it is not necessarily ideal to be separated from your partner for long periods of time, people do find ways to cope with the situation.

Other studies have also found that, although those in long distance relationships talk with each other less, what they do say is imbued with greater meaning. This appears to balance out the lack of physical contact.

This means those in long distance relationships often have similar levels of relationship satisfaction and stability as those who are geographically close to each other.

None of this research, though, tells us anything about which types of people can cope with long distance relationships.

While some people may naturally have the skills required, others may not.

Still, it’s heartening to know that should a long distance relationship be unavoidable, many people are able to keep their intimacy levels high, which helps fuel the relationship, just as if they lived in the same house.

1. The myth of a single intelligence

Some have argued that the idea of intelligence as a single thing is a myth.

According to a recent study of over 100,000 participants, IQ is actually made up of three components (Hampshire et al., 2012).

Analysing the results, they found that IQ split up into short-term memory, reasoning and a verbal component.

In other words: some people could have strong short-term memories but be poor reasoners. Or: some people could be good with language but have poor short-term memory.

Your overall intelligence is a result of how these three subsystems work–and they might not all be at the same level.

2. Intelligence linked to mental illness

Being intelligent isn’t all gravy.

Studies now suggest a link between intelligence and mental illness that may go back into our evolutionary past.

The increased intelligence of Homo sapiens was originally a result of gene mutations. The cost of these gene mutations, however, may have been an increase in mental illness (Nithianantharajah et al., 2012).

The human brain may be the most advanced and complicated object in the universe, but some people pay a heavy price for this gift.

3. Smarts can transcend poor start in life

It’s well-known that being smart helps you get ahead, but what about if you’re smart and disadvantaged? Will your background keep you from achieving?

A study of 12,868 Americans found that while a better background helped people start off with a better job, it was smarts that helped them progress from there (Ganzach, 2011).

Yoav Ganzach explained:

“Your family can help you launch your career and you do get an advantage, but it doesn’t help you progress. And once you start working, you can go wherever your abilities take you.”

4. Clever but worried

They say that ignorance is bliss, and ‘they’ may well be on to something.

That’s because people of high intelligence are more prone to anxiety than those of moderate intelligence.

Indeed, anxiety may have co-evolved with intelligence–worrying may have given early humans a survival benefit in the ancient past (Coplan et al., 2012).

It’s just a pity that it’s left intelligent people with higher levels of anxiety disorders.

5. New ideas

Set against the higher levels of mental illness and anxiety, is the fact that more intelligent people are more likely to come up with new ideas.

Historically, that might mean rejecting superstition and finding new ways of organising society.

One study argues that this explains why more intelligent people are more likely to be atheists and more likely to be politically liberal (Kanazawa et al., 2010).

This study found that young adults who described themselves as ‘very conservative’ had an average IQ of 95, while those who described themselves as ‘very liberal’ had an average IQ of 106.

6. Motivation can trump IQ

Although intelligence can be a wonderful asset to have, it doesn’t guarantee success.

Take maths, that bastion of nerd achievement. It’s true that being intelligent will give you a good start, but for real achievement you’ve got to be motivated.

A German study of 3,520 children found that after they got started at maths, their intelligence became less important than their motivation to succeed and how much they studied (Murayama et al., 2012).

7. Intelligence is in the eyes

Literally, that is.

A study by Shalev et al. (2013) has found that people who have wider blood vessels at back of the eye have higher levels of intelligence.

This is because retinal blood vessels are similar to those in the brain. So, wider blood vessels here may mean a better supply of oxygen to the brain.

This finding could even be important in diagnosing and treating brain diseases:

“Increasing knowledge about retinal vessels may enable scientists to develop better diagnosis and treatments to increase the levels of oxygen into the brain and by that, to prevent age-related worsening of cognitive abilities.” Shalev et al. (2013)

8. The intelligent sleep later

This is no longer a feeble excuse for hitting snooze.

Evidence has now been published that people who are more intelligent tend to go to bed later and get up later (Kanazawa & Perina, 2009).

The study examined the sleep habits of 20,745 adolescent Americans and found that on a weekday the ‘very dull’ went to bed at an average of 11:41 and woke up at 7:20.

In contrast, the ‘very bright’ went to bed at 12:29 and got up at 7:52. At the weekend the differences were even more pronounced.

We don’t know the nature of the connection from this study, but perhaps bright people find it more difficult to get to sleep because of all the worrying they’re doing.

9. Are smart people less racist?

Well, smart people certainly sound less racist. They know what they are supposedto think and say.

But, when they are tested on actual political policies, their views turn out not to be as enlightened as they might like.

These findings are based on a study by Geoffrey Wodtke, who explained:

“…although nearly all whites with advanced cognitive abilities say that ‘whites have no right to segregate their neighborhoods,’ nearly half of this group remains content to allow prejudicial real estate practices to continue unencumbered by open housing laws.”

So it seems smart people are better at concealing their views.

10. Smarter societies are happier

Are smarter people happier? Overall, probably not.

Studies which have looked for a connection between how happy people feel and how intelligent they are have mostly found no connection (e.g. Veenhoven & Choi, 2012).

However, when you look across nations, those that are, on average, smarter, are also happier.

So being smart might not benefit people’s happiness individually, but it may helpcontribute to everyone’s happiness.

I recently experiensed love in its full meaning... months ago, I thought I could be happy and alone and that love is not a big deal..But I was extremely wrong.. we do need friends and we do need a partner, we need to love and we need to get love.. We don't have to pretend that we are strong enough that we don't need the above cause we do.. and it gonna be much easier if we accept it.. goodnight people!!

Sunday, December 8, 2013

I bet you already knew that colours betray our feelings...
But not always in the way we think they do...
Most people have connected black with sadness or even evil... But black is nothing more than a power
show off. People who wear black want to be considered as mysterious guys (I'm one of them xoxo). On the other hand people who wear intense colours , like red, tend to be blatand and ofcourse want to be the center of attention.. just to be fair they also tend to be happier.. we will now watch some pictures with people wearing different colours.. please feel free to comment and tell me your opinion about their personalities..

Most of us I guess sometimes want to be left alone ... to be recreated ...
But family and friends insist that it is not " normal " and that man is by nature a social being . Contrasting to that I say that man by nature has also wild instincts , which are not accepted because of our cultural evolution. In conclusion I want to say that human being it too complex to analyze.. we are so different and same at the same time.. our needs evovle and change all the time.. If we fall into the trap our society has created we're done, we will never have the chance to be happy... deep down each and everyone of us knows what he wants but we all have learned to be afraid and to "the right thing". BUT NO the right thing is what we want and nothing else... the image above is a greek quote that says " you have to be ready to burn in your own fire, how will you reborn if you don't become dust first?"